Wisconsin lawsuit seeks provisional voting for late absentee ballots

A lawsuit filed in Dane County circuit court by the Law Forward firm, the Fair Elections Center and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin asks a judge to permit voters whose mailed absentee ballots have not arrived by the 8 p.m. Election‑Day deadline to cast provisional ballots in person. The complaint argues that delays by the United States Postal Service have caused hundreds of ballots to be rejected in past elections, citing 300 late ballots in Milwaukee and more than 100 in Fond du Lac during the April primary. The plaintiffs contend that the current rule denies voters a fundamental right and risks disenfranchising the roughly 500,000 Wisconsinites who used mail‑in voting in 2024, about 15 % of the state's total votes. Governor Tony Evers and Senator Tammy Baldwin have also written to the USPS demanding corrective action. The case comes as Wisconsin prepares for the November midterms, where control of Congress and the state governorship are at stake.